Alex Caruso scored 22 points on 5-of-10 shooting, hit 4 of 8 from three, handed out six assists and went 8-for-8 at the line in Oklahoma City’s 127-114 Game 5 win over San Antonio on May 26. The line came in the exact shape the Thunder needed most. Caruso did not just space the floor around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He kept turning himself into the pressure point San Antonio could not solve.
The Spurs entered this series trying to make Oklahoma City work through layers. Victor Wembanyama’s length was supposed to shrink driving lanes. Stephon Castle gave San Antonio a big perimeter defender to throw at Gilgeous-Alexander. The idea was to crowd the ball and live with supporting pieces carrying more offense.
Caruso keeps wrecking that trade.
His shooting is changing San Antonio’s help structure
Caruso now has 18 made threes in the Western Conference finals, and the volume matters almost as much as the percentage. Oklahoma City is no longer treating him like an occasional release valve. The Thunder are actively using him to punish the exact rotations San Antonio wants to make against Gilgeous-Alexander.
Game 5 showed the problem clearly. Eight of Caruso’s 10 field-goal attempts came from behind the arc, which forced the Spurs to think twice about helping off him toward the lane. If San Antonio stayed attached to him on the perimeter, Gilgeous-Alexander got cleaner driving space. If the Spurs pinched inward to crowd the paint, Caruso had room to fire immediately.
That balance is what makes him more dangerous than a normal spot-up shooter. San Antonio cannot simply run him off the line and reset the possession. Caruso still got to the foul line eight times in Game 5 because he attacked closeouts instead of stopping the play.
He has become more than a connector in this series
The playoff version of Caruso is not playing like a low-usage role guard anymore. He shot 29.3 percent from three during the regular season. Through five games against San Antonio, he has gone 18-for-35 from deep.
At some point, the Spurs have to treat that as structural instead of temporary.
That shift changes how Oklahoma City’s entire offense operates. Caruso is not standing still in the corner waiting for kick-outs. He is cutting behind help defenders, moving the ball forward quickly and making fast reads once the defense rotates. His six assists in Game 5 mattered because they kept Oklahoma City from bogging down whenever San Antonio loaded up on Gilgeous-Alexander.
The Thunder are essentially getting secondary creation, transition pressure and elite floor spacing from the same player. That is a difficult thing to absorb when the defense is already tilted toward stopping an MVP-level scorer.
His defense keeps completing the cycle
The offensive surge would already matter on its own. Caruso also finished Game 5 with three steals and a plus-18 in 28 minutes. That is the part that keeps making Oklahoma City’s lineup combinations feel so stable.
Caruso and Cason Wallace give the Thunder two perimeter defenders who can pressure the ball without pulling the rest of the defense out of shape. That matters against San Antonio because the Spurs become much more dangerous when Wembanyama catches the ball with the defense already rotating.
Caruso helps stop those possessions before they fully start. He fights through actions, closes passing lanes and forces the Spurs to spend more time operating later in the shot clock. Oklahoma City then gets to play the game it wants, with its defense organized and the floor spread the other way.
Game 6 is likely to turn on the same question again
San Antonio faces elimination on May 28, and the obvious attention will stay on Gilgeous-Alexander, Wembanyama and Castle. The quieter tactical problem still sits right behind them.
How much help can the Spurs send toward the ball without giving Caruso another opening?
That is what made Game 5 feel so important. Oklahoma City got its usual star production, but the swing came from the player San Antonio still wants to treat like a complementary piece. Caruso has played too well in too many different ways for that label to hold anymore.
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